Electric power control system with load management programming

Abstract

Low level control circuitry for controlling a plurality of spaced electrical load devices in an airplane is provided with parallel logic operable to provide for simultaneous manual or condition-responsive dropping of a preselected plurality of said load devices that are considered low priority. Program cards which may be in the form of printed circuit diode boards or separate programmable wiring matrices permit programming to preselect different combinations of load devices for low-priority treatment in response to different levels of emergency and or other logic signals.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electric power control system comprising: a source of power;   a plurality of electrical loads;   a controller circuit associated with each of said electrical loads and responsive to a control signal to connect the associated one of said plurality of electrical loads to said source of power;   control means remote from said loads for selectively applying control signals to individual ones of said plurality of controller circuits; and,   load management means operable in response to a predetermined condition to cancel the application of a control signal from said control means to a preselected plurality of said controllers as a group and thereby disconnect the corresponding electrical loads from said source of power.   
     
     
       2. The electric power control system of claim 1 wherein said load management means includes means responsive to different predetermined conditions to signal said control means to disconnect preselected different pluralities of said controller circuits. 
     
     
       3. The electric power control system of claim 2 wherein said different predetermined conditions are conditions effecting the power supplying capabilities of said source of power; and wherein said load management means includes logic means responsive to the power supplying capabilities of said source of power to cancel the application of a control signal to said different groups of controller circuits in a predetermined sequence.   
     
     
       4. The electric power control system of claim 3 wherein said load management means includes manually operable means for selectively cancelling the application of a control signal to a preselected plurality of said controller circuits as a group. 
     
     
       5. In an electric power control system including a plurality of loads individually connected by controllers to a source of power by the application of a control signal from a remote control station, the improvement comprising means responsive to the occurrence of any one of a plurality of conditions to cancel the application of a control signal to a first predetermined plurality of controllers as a group, said means being responsive to the occurrence of any two of the plurality of conditions to cancel the application of a control signal to a second plurality of controllers as a group, said second plurality of controllers being inclusive of said first plurality of controllers. 
     
     
       6. An electric power control system for an airplane containing a predetermined plurality of power generators comprising: a plurality of electric loads located at spaced locations in the airplane;   power bus means energized from said plurality of generators; a controller associated with each of said loads, said controller being operable to connect the associated one of said plurality of loads to said bus means in response to the application of a control signal;   a control panel including manually operable control means for individually applying a control signal to each of said controllers;   means for sensing the status of each of the plurality of power generators and for providing a status signal for each of the plurality of power generators upon the existence of a predetermined condition thereof,   first, second, third and fourth means for inhibiting respectively the application of a control signal to first, second, third and fourth groups of controllers;   logic means responsive to said status signals for effecting the operation of said first, second, third and fourth inhibiting means in sequence as a function of the number of said plurality of status signals received but independently of the identity of the power generator represented thereby.   
     
     
       7. The electric power control system of claim 6 wherein said control panel includes means for indicating the status of each of the plurality of loads. 
     
     
       8. The electric power control system of claim 7 wherein said control panel means includes means for continuously monitoring the status of said load status indicating means. 
     
     
       9. The electric power control system of claim 8 wherein said means for indicating the status of the plurality of loads and said means for continuously monitoring the status of said load status indicating means together comprise two lamp filaments connected in parallel with each other and in series with a bleed resistor.